Apex Legends, once a popular battle royale has seen better days as the latest player count indicates players are leaving in droves.
Respawn Entertainment, the development studio behind the Titanfall franchise released Apex Legends in 2019 without any prior marketing. Polished first-person shooter mechanics paired with an intuitive Respawn system made a huge splash in the battle royale market.
As such, Apex Legends garnered a massive dedicated player base. While this battle royale shooter operated on a freemium model, most players were happy with the constant flow of new content featuring new legends, maps, game modes, cosmetic items, and more.
“In freefall” as Apex Legends experiences an 80% reduction in player count since March 2023. What is the cause?
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However, over the years, poor changes to the battle pass system, lackluster cosmetic editions, and competitive matches filled with cheaters made this game into a shell of its old self. As a result, players started a mass exodus in March of 2023.
The Decline is Real
Unfortunately, this trend has only gotten worse. Even the latest seasonal update that brought back the OG game modes, failed to garner any real growth for the franchise. With each new update, Respawn seems to bleed players.
In short, Apex Legends has experienced an 80% reduction in player count since March 2023. Cheaters in ranked matches, major cyber attacks, poor decisions regarding monetization, and most importantly a lack of new engaging content have made a huge impact on players. On the contrary, the market is now saturated with more competitive offerings from big AAA developers all fighting to get a piece of that multiplayer first-person shooter pie.
